California Dreams

usi nesses.
N A SMALL thrift Store tucked ages Will to try to change his life. As a plant alcohol- and drug-addicted men to provide
nexttoamotelnear a California of Saddleback Church 20 years ago. Main the fmances necessary for church planting
interstate. Will wrestles a duct- Place's ministry has burgeoned, planting and community work; then it puts its proftaped vacuum cleaner out of its seven cburches of its own and expecting to its back into some of the most crime-filled
box. He has worked at the thrift birth a dozen more by 2020, says pastor communities in the county. Is this any way
store for two months—the same Rich Matbisrud. As a church planter, Main to run a church? Actually, it is.
amount of time that he's been Place spends much of its time running busisober and has lived at the Inside nesses to locate and serve the downtrodden. SETTING THE TREND
Out Men's Home, a rehabilitation Its church-planting abilities surprisingly Tbe Christian Community Development
center for chronic alcohol and come from starting nonprofit businesses.
Association (CCDA), whose main offices are
drugabusers.
"We want to use resources to reach as located in Chicago, is the guiding organizaWill speaks carefully about the many people as possible," says Mathisrud. tion for Main Place and 600 similar efforts
decisions he made before coming "We're just a little church witb a big vision in 200 cities and 40 states across the counto Inside Out. "I chose alcohol trying to honor our great God."
try. The named "grandfather" of CCDA is
over her," he says, when asked about his
In two decades. Main Place has started longtime social-justice worker John M.
gold wedding band. "But I never touched a total of six businesses in Orange County Perkins (see "Grandpa John," CT, March
her. I never did that."
and planted seven churches. 2007). Since the 1960s, Perkins and his
"She said she didn't want
Church Growth
Its businesses include the wife, Vera Mae, have served the poor in
to see me anymore," he adds.
thrift store, half of which sells their Mississippi backyard and elsewhere,
"But she hasn't moved or changed her office supplies; a bookstore; an elementary eventually helping
Thinhing Outside
pbone number."
school; and two theaters, Curtain Call found the CCDA in the Church: As a
Will has kids, too—and hope for getting Dinner Theater and, most recently, the 1989.
comniuntty service.
Mathisrud
Village Theater. Its seven cburches are
his life back on track.
"We champion a Pastor
(right) once paid a
Main Place Christian Fellowship, which scattered across the West Coast in Tustin, clear obedience to the gas station to offer
operates the thrift store in Tustin, Califor- Irvine, Orange, Garden Grove, Santa Ana, gospel," Perkins says, 12,000 gallons of
nia, and the rehabilitation center in nearby and Los Angeles, California, and in Tijuana, quoting James's in- gas for 40 cents
loss than the
Santa Ana, traffics in the hope that encour- Mexico. Main Place's businesses invest in junction to "visit the going rate.
68
C M n i S T f A N I T V
T O D A Y
M a r c h
2 0 0 8
wanted to help.
A burly man named Dave,
with tattoos up one arm and
down the other, operates
Main Place's thrift store. As a
manager, Dave has already
finished the Inside Out rehabilitation program; in Main
Place parlance, he's a graduate.
The thrift store and the
men's home fimction symbiotically: the residents of the
latter are often employed at
the former. Proceeds from the
shop, added to profits from
Main Place's small bookstore
and elementary school, cover
the cost of feeding and housing a dozen men at a time.
widows and orphans" as a shorthand mission statement for CCDA. The ultimate goal
of the association, Perkins says, is to follow
"the Great Commandments and the Creat
Commission"—to love God and neighbor
by bringing the gospel of one to the other
Lit the grassroots level. In obedience to tliis
goal, a CCDA organization may or may not
Inside Out sits on two adjacent parcels in a residential
area of Santa Ana. Officially,
it's a "loving care" facility—a
city term, Mathisrud says.
Residents pay nothing to Hve
there, but like Will, they may
work at the thrift store.
Mathisrud says it costs
$7,500 a year to support each
resident, depending on medical
plant a church, but it will Showcase: Operattngfor
nearly 28 years, Curtain Call
and dental coverage and potenlikely start one or more Dinner Theater is called the
businesses to fuel com- "Grand Daddy" of SoCal dinner tial court fees. The men in the
munity outreach and theaters. If s now also the mhi- progi'am commit to one yeai* of
Istry of a church.
residency. By the time they
growth.
Main Place manages to do both. Pastor graduate, they will have saved at least
Mathisrud says the church wasn't trying $1,000 and are ready to go out on their
to start a business, let alone six; it just own. But many who complete the program stay on at the thrift store
and help new residents.
One Inside Out graduate
bought a carpet-cleaning business from the church and now
pastors Main Place's church
plant in Garden Grove. Mike
Ferrin, earning $200,000 a
year at Color Tech Carpet
Restoration, leads the small
congregation in the same highcrime, low-income area where
he used to score drugs. He
wants to move into full-time
ministry.
ROLE MODELS
Three years ago. Main Place
caught the acting bug and
69
bought the formerly named Elizabeth Howard Curtain Call Dinner
Theater, now known as Curtain Call. Founder Elizabeth Howard
had turned the theater into a Tustin institution before she retired.
Mathisrud good-naturedly pestered Howard for years to let him
hold a Sunday bnanch at the theater, and she steadfastly refused.
But when she retired, Howardfinallysold Mathisrud the theater.
Having a church run the city's beloved theater worried some
patrons. When the theater changed hands in 2005, Curtain Call
continued its standard dinner fare, but no longer served beer and
wine.
"As a church, we felt we couldn't serve alcohol when the reason
we're doing plays is to help men addicted to it," Mathismd says.
Adele Hirschfield and her husband, Lewis, often attended
piays prior to Main Place taking the reins. Since then, the
Hirschfields went twice—and enjoyed it. "The show was just as
good as ever and the meal was excellent," she says. "The service
was fine."
Recently Main Place leased a second venue in nearby Orange.
The Village Theater may become the new meeting place for Pastor
Rich's congregation. It will also produce plays—"Everything Biblical to Broadway," as a banner over the theater's sign proclaims.
Main Place is renovating the new site and has a 10-year lease. The
Checkout: For 13 years building's neighbors are excited about the
Main Place's thrift
j ^ ^ ^ owners—especially a restaurant eager
store has provided jobs
torrcsittentsofthe
church's men's home.
<•
t
^° discuss how it can work with the
church.
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RS Rules to Remember
he IRS and the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability (ECFA)
per guidance to churches that run or hope to run a business.
They recommend:
Proper Governance—an independent board of no fewer than five memers, of which three or more should be non-employees and not personally
dated to the head of the entity. It should meet three times a year to review
business's policies, performance, and finances.
Accounting Controls—Trust should not replace generally accepted
ccounting principles. Standards ensure documentation for income and
Kpenses. as well as property and asset maintenance.
Transparency—The business and church should have nothing to hide
nd therefore be open to inspection. A tax-exempt organization should file
II necessary paperwork, If it joins the ECFA, the organization should doculent all money going in and coming out—even when the government
oesn't require it, such as for a church.
According to the IRS, even tax-exempt organizations may have to pay
lcome on profits over $1,000 from "unrelated business." However, "subtantially related" activities don't count. The IRS offers guidance on the defiitions of "unrelated" and "substantially related."
The ECFA has more information on its website {ecfa.org), as well as the
hurch and Nonprofit Tax Guide, by Dan Busby. Church Law & Tax Report
nd Church Treasurer Alert!, both CT sister publications, also provide guidance
n legal and accounting issues.
THE OLD RUGGED CROSS
On the wall behind the registers at the thrift store hangs a large
wooden cross, four or five feet tall. It's large and sturdy enough to
hold the sins of those who write their confessions on pieces of
paper and nai! them to the wooden beams. Write your sins on the
paper, nail them to the cross, and walk away.
"It's for anybody who comes in," says Doug Hellman, a store
employee. "It's loud, too. You get one person nailing, and pretty
soon you've got a line of people."
Hellman says the thrift store is an "ideal spot" for outreach
because of the motel that surrounds it—a hotbed of drug dealing
and prostitution. "This place needs a police substation," he says.
"It can be bad. We see it all the time." Hellman himself stayed in
the motel the week before he came to Christ and started living at
the men's home.
But in spite of the neighborhood, or perhaps because of it, "it's
perfect for us," Hellman says. "They shop here, and we get a
chance to witness to them."
This is Christian community development in microcosm, as it
plays out on one 100-yard stretch of road in one town in Orange
County and in the lives of individuals like Will, whose simple
work in the thrift store speaks of his hope to put his life back
together.
(^
Paul Hughes is a writer in Southern California.
Douglas K. Stuart Lectures on Old Testament Laws and Jesus' Teaching, April 15-17, 2008.
oin us for our Biblical Studies
Lectures April 15-17, 2008,
with Dr. Douglas K. Stuart.
Old Testament Laws and Jesus' Teaching
• The Calling of a Seminarian
• How Did Old Testament-era Laws
Work? Part 1
• How Did Old Testament-era Laws
Work? Part 2
• Did Jesus Teach that We Should
Obey Old Testament Laws?
There is no charge or reservations for sessions. For more
infonnation please contaa Lee Hansen or Jim Pounds at (205)
726-2731 or register online at www.beesonclivinity.com.